Granville Island Brewing - Lions Winter Ale

Friday, December 15, 2017

As the holiday season approaches I find myself ordering more
‘winter warming’ style beers such as Stouts, Porters and Belgian-style
ales. There are also a number of
seasonal winter beers that pop-up for the season that feature festive flavours such
as Anise, Mexican Chocolate, Cloves, Dark Fruit, Winter Spice, etc. Breweries
can get really creative with some of these seasonal beers and after a few, you'll definitely be getting into the holiday spirit. Regardless of what your winter beer choices are, one that is super easy
to drink, especially for those who are ‘scared’ of darker beers, is the Granville Island Lions Winter Ale. This ale carries the most-perfect comforting
layers of vanilla, cocoa and caramel to warm your insides on a cold winters eve. It’s not overly sweet which is why I really
enjoy it, the flavours are well-balanced making this robust ale a great choice
for any upcoming holiday festivities.

Lions Winter Ale is a great beer to pair with
foods this holiday season. I always have
troubles figuring out what beers go well with certain foods so it was really
insightful to attend a dinner and beer pairing event at Batch. The event was hosted by Granville Island’s National Beer Educator , Justin Lamontagne. Justin hosted an intimate dinner that
featured four different dishes that would pair well with Lions Winter Ale.Before we started the meal, Justin gave
us some fun tips and tricks on how to properly taste beer and how to identify some of the flavours in the beer. Justin was super enthusiastic about beer and food so it really made for an entertaining and fun evening. Don't believe me? Just check out the video below of Justin doing a beer luge using one of the emptied bone marrow bones.

Here were the dishes we paired with Lions Winter Ale:

French Onion Bone Marrow

Shepherd's Pie Gnocchi

Pork Roast Dinner

Ice Cream Beer Float

A big thank you to Batch for hosting us and serving up some
beautifully prepared dishes that were extra tasty! Also a big thanks to
Justin and Granville Island Brewing for unlimited pours of Lions Winter Ale and a very fun and informative evening.